This discussion is a must listen to as it is rare and in-depth on the topic of discourse and which was discussed from personally lived experiences.

Concepts and themes as circular economy, upcycling, recycling, food security and food sustainability, and Agtech were addressed, differentiated and the opportunities within their value chains discussed.

Kafilat talked about the market and potential for circular economy and home growing foods and the challenges hindering their adoption, exploitation and commercialisation.

The guest speaker especially differentiated between food security and food sustainability emphasizing the importance of the latter and the importance of home-growing food to achieving them.

She spoke on the role of technology for the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of growing foods from home and also upcycling and informed on factors hindering adoption and participation. She spoke on the strategies to eradicate these.

Kafilat Adedeji with years of experience at the intersection of the discussed fields detailed her experiences providing a guide for anyone seeking to play in the field and agriculture.

She narrated her story, spoke about about her challenges and how she navigated them, giving practical guide especially for young people with pursuing an idea, making it work, scalable, fundable and sustainable.

I undertook some secondary research in the 2nd week of January 2025 on agrocommodity in Nigeria and was to follow up with a field research in states across the south-west.

I rather went took to a neigbouring country, Republic of Benin based on research and also that a key informant (Animashaun Ibrahim, Manager & CEO, IBF Farms & Agrocommodity) on the agrocommodity I was to see in a south western Nigerian state was in Benin at that time.

Thus, I sat with him at the border town between Benin and Nigeria to discuss agrocommodity and the trading.

The discussion touched on his descent into commodity trading having being previously involved in primary production (farming).

He informed on his rationale to aggregate commodity in Benin Republic other than in Nigeria.

The conversation also encompassed commonly traded agricultural commodities, the opportunities and challenges.

He shared his thoughts on why people rather engage in commodity trading and more than other aspects of the value chains are why as a nation we export more raw commodities and import value-added products.

Animashaun ended by giving a one-minute brief of what we should be doing to transform our agriculture unlock its potential to feed the nation, boost trade and grow wealth and ensure equality.

This conversation held at Ajeja Dam & Farm Settlement, a farming initiative established at the outskirt of Ibadan, Oyo State Nigeria to enable the sustainable cultivation of crops with access to reliable irrigation and enable water-based livelihood and economic activities for community and state prosperity.

We discussed the types of crops grown in the settlement, factors determining crops grown and their markets, and the peculiar challenges faced with production in the area and as regards the irrigation infrastructure and arrangement.

It was reached that the irrigation system has to be improved upon among many other challenges as finance, processing and preservation facilities, market access, availability and affordability of seeds and agrochemicals to unleash the productivity of the farmers and ensure a rewarding and sustainable livelihood that benefits both the farmers and the people.

We explored alternative financing from diaspora investors considering the issue of failure with return on investment for many factors and how to better structure for more mutually benefit partnership arrangement.

The farmers ended by informing on what they would like to see change in the sector and the government effect solutions to.

There has been increasing call of recent for States in Nigeria to leverage and fully exploit their inherent food and agricultural potentials to complement national food security efforts as Nigeria battles food inflation and food insecurity.

Ekiti State is one of the leading states that have taken up this challenge and embarking on audacious agricultural reforms one which is already yield immediate felt gains and promising of immense and viable results in the future.

I seized the opportunity to interview the State of focus Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security to hear firsthand from him the person spearheading the reforms and agricultural transformation in Ekiti State.

The Ekiti State Agriculture and Food Security Commissioner, Hon. Ebenezer Boluwade has significant experience that encompasses primary production, finance, and marketing in the area of agriculture.

He earned Bachelor and Master's degrees in Agricultural Economics from the prestigious University of Ilorin and University of Ibadan respectively, and also has an Agribusiness Management degree from the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University.

He has worked in different finance desks in agriculture for different banks (Oceanic bank and Sterling Bank) attaining manager level, and developing and delivering responsive and beneficial agricultural finance products and solutions in diverse agricultural value chains, which improved the productivity of farmers, agribusinesses, value chain players and allowed for bridging finance gap and deepening financial penetration and inclusion.

He also worked with the United State Department for Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) as an Agricultural Specialist and thus possess significant experience as it entails structuring agricultural projects at international level and location specific to achieve intended objectives.

This robust experience in agriculture (of academic, work, finance, private and international organizations) and his achievement of stellar performance in the different role he has held ensured that he not only was appointed as Special Adviser to Ekiti State Governor on Agriculture and Food Security in November 2022 but also reappointed and to higher role as the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security.

Yet again, his stellar performances have surfaced with a well-conceived Agricultural Development Agenda that touches on the different pillars and pain points with unleashing agricultural productivity and wealth and reaching not only food security but also creating jobs, opportunities, income and revenues, and eradicating hunger, poverty and inequality. A strategy as this when adopted by other States and operationalized at national level could bring about significant overall economic growth and development with far -reaching impact in the lives of the people and sustainability of posterity.

Thus, I interviewed him asking about the reforms. The conversation touched on the road to the agricultural Development Agenda in the State and also the execution of the Agenda's livestock component as it relates with Nigeria's Ministry of Livestock in opening up the livestock value chain and satisfying protein demands.

The discussion also encompassed mechanization for productivity of farms and adequate support for productive outcome for farming and agribusiness endeavours, with emphasis on tractorization, commercial farming, market linkage, storage and processing and value addition, improved input and information support hinged on best practices adoption and technology applications. The success Ekiti State is seeing with this was extracted to inform the effectiveness of agricultural interventions at Federal Level.

The discourse also embodied independent effort by states to reach national food security, what states should be doing, the cooperation of the South West and an integration of economy and food system, and also what other states can learn from performing states.

The USAID is the body in charge US international aid in countries around the world.

USAID mission is to deliver assistance in distressed regions facing conflict, health emergencies, climate change challenge, food security and other eminent threats to restore order and adapt. It also seeks to help with development efforts in poor, low income and developing economies and provide critical funds to solutions being developed address development issues.

The organisation works with the World Bank, FAO, WHO and other UN institutions, and INGO and local NGOs to attain this mission.

However, currently USAID is accused of misappropriation by allocation of funds to sponsor frivolous and nefarious activities opposite to the organisation’s original objectives.

For instance, it’s alleged that USAID’s funds go to sponsor insurgent, fundamentalist and separatist groups across the globe and pressure countries to act along the US and Western Europe’s interests.

We looked at the allegations and how true they are especially in relation to Africa and Nigeria.

We also sought to understand the implication of this, the impact the aid cease to and demise of USAID would have across the global development landscape for countries at critical development stage and countries in distress in urgent need of humanitarian and developmental aids.

We talked about an alternative local funding to complement and/or replace disappearing foreign aid.

I was joined by a seasoned development expert to discuss this, Gbenga Aderemi- Williams who has an in-depth knowledge of international aid, geopolitics, operations of INGO and local NGOs in Africa, developing economies and Nigeria.

This was an overall rich discussion and you don’t want to miss out on it. You want to quickly go listen. Follow link now and listen to our discussion.

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Trump's 2nd Presidency kickstarting with nationalistic interest imposing higher tariffs on trading partners and cutting short US international aid that support's USAID , WHO and FAO operations in conflicted and food insecure regions, meant a new arrangement that could impact food supply and food security. His tendencies in the past walking out of Davos (World Economic Forum event) non-believing of the state of climate change and global warming, inclining more to industrialization and space mission, also meant a new concern for sustainable food system. On the other hand, the world is looking at a possibility of an end to the conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East with Trump's vow to end them early in his office term. This is not expected to be an easy puzzle to untangle or straight forward, with a US-Israel ally and Western Europe and US differences in opinion in how Russia is perceived. However, if these hostilities seize, it could mean restore to normalcy and bolster of the global input and food supply chains and decline of food prices, impacting positively food security around the world, with E/Europe responsible for bulk of fertilizer components and wheat in the world and the Middle East habouring the Suez Canal important for cargo of agricultural inputs and food supply globally. These happenings spurred this conversation, and we attempted to make meaning of what could unfold with these and the adaptive strategies to emerge, looking at a multipolar world and the intricacies of food supply chains where tariff on a country like China could have reverberating effects on dependent countries especially in low income and developing economies reliant on imports from the country. We looked at the impact of joining BRICS as a developing nation for instance Nigeria, the bloc seen as opposition to US, Europe and Western economic ideologies and dollarization. You want to take your time to listen to the very end of this conversation and grasp the intricacies and insights of geopolitical issues from the perspectives of the knowledgeable speakers.

Prof. Janice E. Olawoye is a well accomplished figure in the field of Rural Sociology and the University of Ibadan, and well-renowned around the world for her impactful work in the field and publications.

She took the bold step to reside, study and lecture in Nigeria, in an uncommon time, and has since chosen the nation as a home. Her journey was challenging but inspiring -one of audacity, conviction and adaptation.

In this first part of a broader conversation, she talks about how she began staying in Nigeria.

This episode is Part 1 of other episodes of the original full event.

This Nigerian Agriculture Budget Review is a first of its kind.

It is often that new budget get passed without appraisal of previous budget to see what worked, what did not and why things happened that way, to ensure responsiveness and effectiveness of subsequent budgets.

Also important of budget review is to see where money goes and ensure money allocated actually goes where they are intended and make the intended impact.

As such this budget review was timely and addressed the existing gap.

It asked serious questions that encompassed the unavailability of budget document and also inaccessibility, both physical and language obstructions that dissuade public easy comprehension, follow-up and evaluation, and the impact of such.

The review touched on the discrepancies of budget figures from different sources, missing allocation for important projects/programmes, revealing reasons for such.

Many anomalies within the budget for 2024 and 2025 were also discussed and how to spot them.

Some salient issues that go unnoticed and how insitutionalize budget monitoring and appraisal were discussed as well.